Thai protesters to rally against PM after deadly clashes

Bangkok: Thai protesters seeking to oust Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Wednesday threatened to storm her temporary office, a day after street clashes left five people dead and 70 others injured.

People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) led by Opposition leader Suthep Thaugsuban announced that it would mobilize protesters from all rally sites in the capital to evict Yingluck from her temporary office at Muang Thong Thani.

Suthep said that demonstrators would follow Yingluck wherever she goes. The PDRC's move came after the caretaker government mobilized thousands of policemen to disperse anti-government protesters at several sites across the city.

On Tuesday, hundreds of riot police carrying shields began operations across Bangkok to reclaim buildings seized by protesters resulting in the clashes that left five people dead.

The dead included one policeman. The PDRC said it will also seek a Civil Court injunction to protect right to demonstrate, which it says were abused on Tuesday by the police attempts to reclaim rally sites.

The protesters backed by the main opposition Democrat Party have been rallying in Bangkok since November to try to oust Yingluck, whom they view as a proxy for her elder brother Thaksin Shinawatra, a former premier who was toppled in a military coup in 2006.

They want the government to hand over power to an unelected people's council to implement reforms they say are needed to end corruption. The premier called for snap polls on February 2 to defuse crisis but the Democrats decided to boycott it. The protesters blocked polling stations in Bangkok and southern provinces.

Yingluck ran into further trouble on Tuesday the National Anti-Corruption Commission said it has found grounds to press charges and initiate impeachment proceedings against her for alleged negligence and dereliction of duty in the rice scheme which has cost the country dearly.

A large number of rice farmers who entered the programme have not yet received payment and are now in serious financial difficulty.